Black Death
by Vixen of Light
Summary: [ON HAITUS!] Kari's vision of war in the Digital World becomes reality when a virus plague breaks out...4 chapters at the moment...
1. Dream of Death

A/N: OK, this is, like it says, after Malomyotismon, and I am trying to make it as AU as I can, so it doesn't REALLY disagree with that Epilogue.but on the other hand, it doesn't really agree with it either. Eh, it doesn't matter, the future is a long way off.^^ The Digimon have also gone back to the Digital World, and as we are not in the time where EVERYONE knows about the Digital World, only a few people still have Digimon. OK. I think that's it.  
  
Not black but a rich, velvety peacock blue, deep as thoughts, or the spaces between worlds. Each burning point blazed in her eyes as she stared, thinking, leaving flickering afterimages when she blinked.  
  
Gatomon, when the rip in the sky appeared, before we met the Dark Masters, you could see the same sky from your world. I wonder if, somewhere, you still can? I miss you.  
  
In the dead of summer, the only time with cooler temperature was the night, and Kari Kamiya sighed as she stared upwards from the balcony, into the trail of stars, and then the eternity beyond, feeling faint breezes on her face, touching her hair. It had been a month since the defeat of Malomyotismon, a month since they had left the Digital World, and, even though they were still able to visit whenever they liked, the Digimon still stayed in their own world, and Kari confessed to herself, that she missed Gatomon more than she had bargained for.  
  
She closed her eyes for just a moment, fingers tightening on the pink Digivice she clutched, remembering.  
  
.the vision flared and died in her mind so quickly she could have almost imagined it. Her rich brown eyes flew open and stared, confused, into the world about her and the images flickered in her subconscious.she could hear the screams and the beat of wings, attacks skimming the air, smell the faint, bitterly metallic scent of blood and data breaking down, feel the heat of flames and matted fur, and see.that something was wrong, and that it was war.  
  
She took a deep breath, for a moment swimming in the horror of the idea, then rushed back inside.  
  
"I saw it, Tai, as if I was there, just for a moment."  
  
"Calm down, Kar'.describe it to me." Tai's face was serious, and as he looked at his trembling sister, no matter how illogical it seemed, he trusted her.  
  
"I saw.Digimon, while you were at camp, and first got taken in. And it was like that, not a dream.like I was really there. I saw them fighting, and black, everything was black, the land, the Digimon.their eyes, they were glazed, I don't even think they knew what they were doing. I." She covered her face with her hands, and to his distress Tai realised she was crying. "I.didn't know.what to do.or where Gatomon is."  
  
Tai put a careful arm around his sister's shaking shoulders. "Are you sure? It wasn't just.a dream?"  
  
Kari glared up at him through her tears. "I'd know if I was dreaming, Tai. It wasn't that.I was just holding my Digivice and thinking of Gatomon, and I saw it. Not a dream."  
  
Tai left her for a moment, fumbled in a drawer, pulled out a small object. "Then, we go back. We can see what is there. You can open the port and we'll be back before morning."  
  
"Shouldn't we call the others?" Kari stood, reached over for the phone. Tai paused, thought briefly.  
  
"Shouldn't we go and look first? If nothing is there we'll have dragged them out for nothing." He caught Kari's expression and added, "I know what you saw, and I don't doubt you. But there may be a reason..I don't know. If we just look it won't harm."  
  
"OK," said Kari, slightly unhappy, but Tai did have a point.and besides, maybe some of the others would have had the same vision and come of their own accord.she frowned. "Tai, I really would feel better if at least, Yolei was here. It won't take her a minute to get here.or she can enter on her own and we can meet in Primary Village. Please?"  
  
Tai shrugged. "OK, go on then." Kari watched him pacing as she dialled Yolei's telephone number, held a brief, whispered conversation and hung up. "She'll meet us there," she said shortly.  
  
Tai nodded, and shot her a hard grin. "Then let's go!" 


	2. Vision Made Real

A/N: Bah.I just realised, looking at Chap 1, that the computer doesn't like something about my formatting. OK, until I have figured how to fix it, FYI, where something is a full stop and the next letter is lower case (ie: yet. something) it should read: yet (dot dot dot) something. I'm typing this in Word and if anyone can tell me how to fix that, I would be eternally grateful.  
  
It all seemed so normal. Brother, sister and friend stood at the edge of Primary Village and stared at the rows of Digieggs beyond, a million bright colours and patterns, waiting to hatch, seated on the same rich grass, the same trees rising up as shade. And yet.something hung over the world, something was just slightly off-kilter, not by much, but enough to notice. It wasn't black, but it did seem darker. Something was missing.  
  
Tai raised his eyebrows at Kari. "Not here, is he?"  
  
"No. . . " Kari wished she could think of something more helpful to say, but she didn't understand.  
  
"What?!" Yolei's bright voice cut across her thoughts. "What is it? What's wrong?"  
  
"No Oikawa.nothing is here. Look." Kari pointed to the sky, which, when they had left a month ago, had been a rich cerulean blue, edged with rainbow wings, pastel paintstrokes. Now, it was unfinished, nothing was there.  
  
"But.where could he go? He doesn't have a body." Yolei squinted into the sky, confused.  
  
Tai gestured to the gate to Primary Village, slightly ajar. "Should we go in?"  
  
"Yeah, good idea," Yolei stepped forward, purple hair flowing out behind her, marching confidently through the gates. Kari and Tai hurried after her.and stopped.  
  
Yolei was bending down over something, her head tilted slightly to one side, studying something. Kari looked at her, watched her whole body tense slightly.  
  
"What is it?" she said softly.  
  
Yolei did not reply, but instead stood up and moved aside so Kari and Tai could see. Kari's eyes widened, and Tai exhaled deeply, breath hissing in the silence.  
  
It was a Digiegg, certainly. It was striped, and throbbing slightly, waiting. The only difference was that it was dull, pitch black, and the stripes were grey, the grey of decay and untouched dust. Kari shuddered. "But.why?"  
  
"Not the only one," said Yolei, turning to wave a desultory hand over the area. Indeed, where Kari had though she had seen the coloured eggs, almost every row was spotted with a dark egg, menacing among the innocent, brightly hued eggs.  
  
A tired voice behind them made them spin. "You.you're back? Please.you have to help." "Elecmon!" gasped Kari, running to the slumped shape. But he had changed.not just the voice. His eyes had lost their spark, as he stood, he looked as if he was about to collapse to the ground. His coat was faded, colours without shine.  
  
"It's Oikawa, isn't it?" said Tai angrily. "He's gone, and something has happened."  
  
"Tai!" scolded Kari, beckoning Yolei over. "What happened?" she asked Elecmon gently.  
  
"He.has gone, just for a while." the Digimon murmured, resting in Kari's hands. "When you left, Azulongmon was the only one of the Harmonious Ones, the Digital Gods, who was free. After a while, Oikawa sent his spirit to try to free the other three, on.another plane of the Digital World. And.I will have to show you the rest.I can't explain it.not like this."  
  
Kari picked up the Digimon, and straightened up, glancing to Tai and Yolei, then back at Elecmon. "The eggs.why are they black?"  
  
"It makes them.so easy to return." Elecmon muttered, staring to a point over Kari's shoulder. "Regenerates them."  
  
"What does?" asked Yolei, following his gaze to nothing.  
  
"Over that hill..quietly. Be careful. Please.leave me here."Don't let them see you, or they will try to kill you. Its.not their fault."  
  
"Huh?" Yolei cried, "What d'you mean?" Elecmon merely put his paw to his mouth, indicating silence. Yolei gave an irritated shrug, but fell silent. Kari placed the Digimon back to the ground, and turned to her companions, who were already walking to the hill. She grit her teeth, and hurried after them.  
  
They walked in silence, carefully, picking their way delicately over the ground. They reached the top of the hill, and, as ones plunging into deep water, took a breath and looked over it.  
  
"Arial attack!" the misdirected fireball shot over Kari's head, scorching her hair and making her cry out. Tai wrestled her down and covered her mouth quickly, hissing "Ssh!" into her ear, brushing her hair off, to make sure no spark had caught in it. The fireball deflected off behind them, exploding harmlessly against a rock in a bursting flare, clods of earth shooting upwards.  
  
"OK."whispered Kari faintly, curling her body round into a reclining position so she could put her head over the hill. She felt Yolei squeeze her shoulder gently and mentally she thanked her friend for her silent support. Then, she suddenly drew up, tense, eyes blank. "That's it." she whispered. "The same smell." And it was.the same fear, mindlessness, the steel and sharp blood and smoke, stinging her nostrils and heart. She looked over the hill, and gasped.  
  
Black it was indeed, and anarchical in its chaos. The shapes fighting were barely distinguishable from the haze of attacks blinding back and forth, the deep growls of attack names, the cries and yelps of pain as attacks struck home. And the Digimon.they were.  
  
"Black," whispered Yolei. "They're all black, and all attacking each other."  
  
Kari did not hear her. Her mind was a whirling maelstrom of confusion and horror, and yet totally clear in the scene set out in front of her. It was a vision of hell, nothing to do but kill and fight and destroy, and carry on until you were killed, the lust of blood, the red glaze behind eyes, the heady scent of rage, the berserk blindness.  
  
"Gatomon!" she sobbed, realising to her shame and fright that again, she was crying, terrified, confused, and dreadfully scared for her own partner Digimon.  
  
"And Hawkmon.and Agumon." added Yolei softly, undertones of fear in her own voice. They had all ducked down again.no-one could look at that scene for long.  
  
"I.couldn't see them." Tai's voice was slightly tremulous, and to Kari, hearing her brother sound like that, her fearless brother, Holder of Courage, really hit home. Her heart contracted, a physical ache burning her soul.  
  
"But.it's like that all over the world," Kari's voice was thin, and unnaturally calm, as if she was reciting a memorised speech. "Everywhere on the Digital World they are like this."  
  
"Why?" asked Yolei, putting her arm around Kari, mind only on Hawkmon, afraid.  
  
"Why?" Elecmon's tired voice cut over her thoughts, and the Digimon dragged himself up to them, as if the effort was akin to dragging himself to hell. "Because.of the virus. The Plague." 


	3. Hope in the Hopelessness

A/N: I know its moving slowly at the moment. . .I'll try and pace it up soon. . looking back, I really should have made all this lot, one large chapter. Ho-hum. Maybe I will reformat and rewrite bits when I finish it.should that ever happen.^^;;; Review if you please.  
  
--  
  
The light in the sky was not merely provided by the blazing sun - the flickers and echoes of colours were not fireworks, as a casual observer may have presumed, but instead the reflections of attacks, shot blindly and ricocheting of off targets. Kari watched them in almost catatonic horror as Tai and Yolei questioned Elecmon, back in Primary Village, a state of relative safety.  
  
"Plague? What brought it?" Yolei's voice, that. Inquiring, wondering if there was a solution to hand.  
  
"Have you seen. . . any of our Digimon?" And that was Tai, briskly cutting across Yolei.  
  
"I haven't been far. . . how could I leave the eggs?" Elecmon had almost regained some of his old spunk, as if seeing someone who had saved the world before had given him hope again. Hope. . .TK. While the others talked, Kari, moving slowly as one in sleep, drew her D-Terminal from her pocket and wrote a message to TK, to ask him to come, bring the others if he could, quickly. Darkness. . .she could feel it, almost tangible, and formless, with no single body to destroy, merely encroaching, slowly, insidiously. She sent her message, and sat back, half listening.  
  
"So, it just arrived one day? Just like that? How?!" Yolei's voice took on an impatient edge.  
  
Elecmon made a slight shrug. "A single Digimon, not even past rookie stage - a Floramon, I think - suddenly started attacking other Digimon. She was black, and we didn't understand until all the Digimon she had been close to, collapsed, and. . .well, lay there and then stood, their eyes blank, their coats fading to black."  
  
He hadn't described it, but Kari knew, somehow, there was more to it than that. She saw it, the convulsion as the disease caught hold, all the muscles freeze, felt the fall, felt mind and thought seep away into spiralling madness and then. . .nothing left but destruction.  
  
"Can it be cured? Or stopped?" Tai asked.  
  
"As far as I know, no." Elecmon stated, then fell silent as the implications of that dawned on them all.  
  
"What do you do with the eggs?" Kari asked softly, the thought suddenly occurring to her."  
  
Elecmon avoided her eyes, almost guiltily. Afterwards, Kari realised, of course it would be guilt, for he was betraying his job, almost. "I have to wait until they are ready to hatch, then leave them over the hill. . . let them hatch alone. If I left them here they would destroy all the other eggs." He looked up, imploring them to understand. "Something about the disease accelerates early Digivolution, and they become Champions in days. . . duck!"  
  
The sudden yell instinctively made them all fall flat to the ground, and they heard, rather than saw, the belch of flame shoot overhead, following by a bellowing howl. As the sound dies off, they rose, slowly, seeing an Airdramon soar off into the distance. Even as they watched, a hideous whirring accompanied the arrival of a group of Flymon. The Airdramon whirled, circled around them, ignoring the loudening buzz of wings, looped in a circle around them and attacked. Kari closed her eyes and turned away as the Flymon fell to the ground, limp tattered shapes, flickering into deletion, the few who remained, darkening to a dull black shade, soaring back up, and counter-attacking the Airdramon, chasing up into the sky, until the only thing that could be seen of them were the tail of attacks, sweeping into the skyline.  
  
Tai stared after them, and Elecmon added, somewhat meaninglessly, "That was close. Not many come here but we have seen a few attacks aimed at the Village. . ."  
  
"Huh?" A flash of light caused Yolei to spin, but instead of the foaming, snarling attacker she had expected, human figures stood there, Digivices in their hands, blinking.  
  
"TK!" Kari ran to her friend's side, and he held out his arms to her. She fell into the embrace, shaking. He pulled her close, protectively, and looked over to Tai and Yolei. "She sent us a message," he said tersely. "I gathered who I could and came as soon as possible. Any sign of our partners?"  
  
Tai identified the others: Matt, Davis, Izzy, Cody, and Ken. "Not any of them, but we haven't been far. Elecmon has been explaining to us. . .its like hell. We had to understand what was going on before we went anywhere - its dangerous at the moment, everywhere. Even sitting here nearly fried us."  
  
"Well, now we're here - let's go!" Davis bunched his hand into a fist and thrust it to the sky. Yolei nodded in agreement, and Tai looked at the faces of the others, and lastly, his sister. She had pulled out of TK's arms now, and simply held his hand, looking slightly calmer. Even though it was selfish, Tai was glad he couldn't see what she did, and he wished deeply that she didn't either. He tipped her a wink, and she gave a smile in return, stronger now, hope in her heart, maybe.  
  
"I hope you find them soon," Elecmon called as they marched off, studying Digivices for a clue of location. "You have to stop this. . ." He turned and limped back through the gates of Primary Village, watching for signs of the black eggs hatching, all alone.  
  
With Elecmon gone, and the backs of the children facing the hill, no-one saw the shape pull itself up and after them, cautiously. A watcher, omnipresent to all the happenings, would have thought the shape was a Digimon of the Plague, for the wings and stomach were tinted black. But yet.the rest of the body was its natural gold-orange, and the rage of attack was not in the stance, in the movement. Should this watcher have seen the creature's eyes, it would have understood, maybe, that something was wrong, for the blue eyes were bright and alive one moment, and then glazed, dark as mines, and filled with both bloodlust and fear, fighting some terrible internal struggle. The tiny, childlike voice whispered a short name, and fluttered heavily upwards, following the group of Digidestined. 


	4. Digivolve!

"Will he be able to find them, do you think?"  
  
The only reply the feline voice got was a hissing snarl. The white cat raised her fevered eyes to the looming shadow in the corner. She could not see the whole form, the look in the eyes or the stance of the Digimon, but she knew the blue wolf-like Garurumon would not attack. She dropped back to her haunches, drifted back into half-sleep. Most of the time, all they could do was sleep, or lie shivering and weak but at least something, some miracle, had kept the madness of attack from the Digidestined Digimon.  
  
Gatomon's night-adjusted pupils dilated and took in the scene in the cave they hid in: they were all there, Palmon collapsed in a corner, whispering Mimi's name over and over again, Hawkmon shaking in half-unconscious state, eyes blank and voiceless, Biyomon's pink feathers flushed white with illness. Garurumon, forcibly evolved, stood with his back to them all, staring through mucus-crusted eyes to the cave mouth. It was dark, and for most, this was a blessing.  
  
The cave would have been beautiful had it not been a hideout: the mineral Kari had once called 'Fool's Gold' glistened in the walls, odd twisted stalagmites rose from the ground and stalactites dripped from the roof, ropes of ruby hue spiralling downwards. Faint traces of pictures or maybe even words were etched onto the walls by who-could-know, from a time before this.  
  
Gatomon did not look at them, however. Her eyes flickered shut again and she thought only of the tiny Digimon they had pinned their hopes on who now flew to find help. Maybe he would find no-one, or be killed, or worse infected, but what else was to be done? They would all die otherwise. If nothing else, Gatomon knew this, and they were completely defenceless against it, the silent enemy, and her thoughts drifted into insane dreams of electric colours on blank blackness as her eyes shut.  
  
-  
  
Tai headed the group as they walked, half-listening to Yolei explaining in whispers the situation to the others. Kari walked at his side, TK a step behind her. His sister raised her face to Tai's, taking in his set jaw, eyes fixed ahead.  
  
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, taking hold of his arm, the question sounding rather foolish to her own ears.  
  
He looked down at her and gave her a thin smile. "Yeah, OK. Thanks."  
  
"Where exactly are we heading?" Davis came up behind them, his voice fearless in spite of everything. Kari loved him for it, too, the same trait that made him invulnerable to MaloMyotismon, his unwavering belief that everything would be alright, that goodness would prevail. He was long over his crush on her, and they had become good friends.  
  
"Edge of the forest, I guess," said Tai, decisive voice ringing clear. "Then we could head for Tentomon's area, or Agumon or Gabumon's. We could find anyone else on the way."  
  
Davis nodded. "Long as we get to go in Tentomon's treehouse this time." Tai grinned, and Davis pulled him a face. "What?!"  
  
Behind them, more or less at the back of the parade, Izzy and Ken's voices held whispered conversation. Kari wondered for a moment why everyone was so quiet, and yet.it seemed appropriate. Something was killing the Digital World, after all.then this was a funeral cortege, the empty, infinite, unprotected sky, a grave shroud. She turned an ear to the voices.  
  
". . .sort of virus," Ken's calm, gentle tones drifted up the column of people to her.  
  
"So, like a computer, there has to be a patch to, uh, download, almost. Some sort of vaccine." Izzy analysed, looking around him at the withered trees, the scorched grass.  
  
"But we all know how hard it can be to find a way to stop a virus on a computer, so how should we begin here?" Ken had a point, too, from even Kari's minimal technological knowledge.  
  
"Yes, but. . ." Izzy stopped, and cocked his head to the side. He rose his voice for them all to hear. "Did anyone else just hear a voice?"  
  
"Where?" Tai spun sharply, eyes scanning the horizon.  
  
TK's hand on Kari's tightened sharply, then dropped as he ran to Izzy's side, past him, and back to the grass hillock the had just passed.  
  
"I hear. . ." his voice was slightly strained, and Kari realised.  
  
"Is it. . .Patamon?"  
  
TK leaned forward and scooped something up, whispering to it, in choked tones, then turned back to the others, a bundle in his arms.  
  
"I thought. . .I'd never find you. . ." Patamon whispered. "We're all so ill, and but we knew you'd come. . ." his eyes closed and a small smile crossed his lips as he relaxed in TK's arms.  
  
"Its OK," TK told the Digimon, even as his face blanched pale at the sight of the blackness fading in and out of Patamon's orange skin. Up close, it was a horribly marble effect, like oil on water, darkening and drifting into gold again, sick shades.  
  
"What do you mean, all?" asked Cody, his young face serious as he walked up to TK. The others clustered round.  
  
"Is Hawkmon there?" asked Yolei, and the others clamoured to hear.  
  
TK waved them back, then gently stroked Patamon's head to wake him again. The little Digimon's eyes flickered open, not really registering anything but replying: "Yes. . .we're all in a cave, waiting for you, back the way I came. . .not attacking. . .something is stopping it from. . .getting to bad unless we Digivolve too far. It happened. . . to poor Gomamon a while back. . .he evolved to Zudomon and attacked everything, everyone. . .destroyed things and actually killed other Digimon. We were terrified, he was like someone we didn't know at all. Then he just devolved to Bukamon and collapsed, and we had to drag him back to the cave. He doesn't remember anything. . .we couldn't tell him what he had done." He stopped as a fit of coughing took him, and TK rocked him as if he were a baby, tears almost shining in his eyes. "Its alright," Kari caught the words, "I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you, never. . .", the broken phrase overlaid with fear of losing the Digimon again. She placed a hand on TK's shoulder.  
  
"So," Davis, Tai and Izzy pulled back, all brisk business again. "Where would this cave be?"  
  
"Back that way, he said," Davis pointed.  
  
"We'll have to be careful, if Patamon is infected that means anything passing him on his way here would have caught the virus now. . ." said Izzy, keeping his voice low. Yolei and Cody drew back from TK, leaving him to cradle Patamon. His eyes lifted to Kari's. "How could this have happened?"  
  
"I don't know. . .there are still things in this place, like the Dark Ocean, that are evil. . .what if something escaped?" Kari offered.  
  
Izzy glanced over. "Kari raises an interesting point. Maybe we should look into the things we know still pose a risk and see if any of them could have created a virus like this. . ." he was interrupted by a howling cry from Patamon, the thin, piercing wail like a dying kitten, maybe.  
  
"Pata?!" TK placed the Digimon on the ground and knelt beside him. A bright light was beginning to surround the Digimon, glowing from inside him, and he trembled.  
  
"Get back!" Tai yelled, suddenly realising what was happening.  
  
"Over here!" Davis waved towards a heap of scree and rocks, scrubby bushes. Kari felt her arm grabbed by Yolei, who propelled her towards the rocks and hauled her down. "TK!" she yelled.  
  
Tai bodily grabbed TK, dragging him screaming to the hiding place with the others. "No! Patamon!" screamed TK, fighting to escape, but Tai held on.  
  
"Not now, TJ," Davis grabbed onto his friend's arm and helped Tai pull him down. "You heard what he said, this could be dangerous!"  
  
And all alone, Patamon lay, the light around him rising in intensity until they all had to look away, and all they heard was the child-like voice deepening to a booming, resonant tone:  
  
"Patamon, Digivolve to.Darkangemon!" 


End file.
